ByteDance’s strong support and exceptional team have driven the success of “Doubao,” an application combining artificial intelligence with a human touch, making it the standout AI app in the Chinese market.
“Doubao,” a ChatGPT-like chatbot developed by TikTok owner ByteDance, has emerged as one of the leading artificial intelligence applications in China, outperforming numerous competing products despite the absence of a clear monetization model so far.
The application, launched last August, topped the list of artificial intelligence chat apps, attracting more than 51 million monthly active users in China, according to AI product tracking website Aicpb.com. It thus surpassed Baidu’s “Wenxiaoyan”—formerly known as Ernie Bot—which had 12.5 million users, and Alibaba-backed “Kimi,” which has 10 million users.
Given that Chinese authorities require artificial intelligence apps to be registered locally before they are made available for download on phones and computers, domestic apps have dominated the market, with a notable absence of global applications such as ChatGPT, which has more than 180 million users.
The Doubao app is free to download and use in China, offering various services such as composing emails, text summarization, image and video generation, and data analysis, alongside AI-powered web searching—a function recently added by ChatGPT.
Thanks to these diverse features, Doubao has become the primary choice among artificial intelligence applications in China. Despite the high training costs for these apps, which rely on large language models, ByteDance has not yet announced any plans to monetize Doubao.
A consultant named Cheng, based in Hangzhou, explained that Doubao is an effective tool for editing and refining texts due to its logical content organization. Meanwhile, Zhou Jiahui, a software sales representative in Beijing, emphasized that he uses Doubao frequently because of its user-friendly design and versatile features.
The app is available on its official website as well as on Android and iOS app stores, and is considered one of the most flexible artificial intelligence applications, according to experts.
ByteDance’s massive resources and exceptional team, combined with a design that reflects a human touch, have contributed to the app’s rapid surge in popularity among users.
Since its launch, Doubao has added numerous features, such as music generation, voice chat, and advanced data analysis for uploaded files. In total, more than 20 new features have been added within three months.
At a company event last May, Zhou Jun, vice president of products and strategy at ByteDance, explained that the secret to Doubao’s success lies in its proximity to users and its customization to align with their needs. He is also one of the co-founders of musical.ly, the app acquired by ByteDance and transformed into TikTok.
Zhou added that his team focuses on the importance of simplifying the use of artificial intelligence products, stating: “We want users to feel a human warmth when they use smart technologies.”
